


Doggo Sense

by author_abz



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Talking Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-11-23 09:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18150335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/author_abz/pseuds/author_abz
Summary: “JT – I think I’m going crazy. I can hear the birds. They’re yelling at each other.”In which Tyson Jost discovers he can understand and talk to animals, and the Avalanche gets a team dog.





	Doggo Sense

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [dalmatienne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dalmatienne/pseuds/dalmatienne) in the [wesmashing](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wesmashing) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> The Talks-to-Animals au/trope that is so two-thousand-and-late. The twist is, you get to decide how to implement this trope:
> 
> -Does Josty wake up one day to find that suddenly he can understand animals? Is he freaked out or is he just Sick of hearing birds scream FUCK all the time?
> 
> This is a very silly prompt with a lot of room for you to make it whatever you want.
> 
>  
> 
> I would like to thank Annie for coming up with this great prompt and chatting with me about what I could do with it! Also big thanks to [ashisfriendly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashisfriendly/pseuds/ashisfriendly) and [Missesbean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missesbean/pseuds/Segskog) for beta-ing!
> 
> Please enjoy!

Tyson likes sharing a house with his two teammates and close friends for a lot of reasons, but getting the entire basement to himself is a big perk. Especially on mornings he gets to sleep in; it’s _so quiet_. Not today, though. Somehow he can hear the high pitched chirping of the birds, so loud and insistent, he groggily gets up as the sun rises. At the window in the kitchen, he can see the birds now, hopping around the trees, chirping - no, _yelling_ \- loudly.

“Fuck, a human! FUCK!” A bird who is closest to the window yells, hopping away, and he sees the birds near him ignoring them, yelling “Food!” and “Fuck!” and quieter, amongst themselves, he swears he can hear “You stay away from her! She’s _my_ girl!”

He blinks several times, shaking his head, trying to clear it, thinking maybe one of them left the TV on, and he’s just imagining the birds are the ones making the noise. As he backs up into the table, he ends up focusing on a bird that’s hopping from branch to branch, and as he hears, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, I hate the cold!” he can see the bird’s beak opening and closing in time with the words.

Without realizing it, Tyson walks up the stairs and is staring at the door to JT’s room. He can still hear the birds outside, yelling random things at the world, at each other. Before he can decide whether he should actually barge into the room he thinks, vaguely, ‘Aren’t birds supposed to _sing_?’Then a particularly high pitched, screechy yell reaches his ears and he opens JT’s bedroom door and hurries inside it, shutting the door behind him.

“J, I think I’m going crazy,” he says to the lump under the covers of JT’s bed. JT’s room is noticeably bigger than the other bedrooms in the house, but its windows face out to the street, which is why Kerf let him have it once Tyson had claimed the big basement bedroom, preferring the room looking out into the backyard with the trees. Now, Tyson is calmer just by the additional quiet he gains since there aren’t birds in the front of the house.

JT doesn’t really stir from his bed, just making a vague sound into his pillow. “JT – I think I’m going crazy. I can hear the birds. They’re yelling at each other.”

This time JT groans, “They always yell in the morning. That’s what birds _do_.”

“No, they’re yelling ‘fuck’ and ‘get away from that stick it’s mine,’ and ‘oh fuck a human!’”

Turning on his side, JT looks at Tyson blearily, and sighs. “You’re just imagining it, you need more sleep. Go back to bed.”

“It’s too loud in my room,” Tyson says guiltily, watching as JT sighs and flips his blankets back in front of him.

“Just get in and go to sleep,” he says, eyes closed, starting to drift off again.

Tyson doesn’t question or think too hard about it as he slides into JT’s bed. It is quieter in JT’s room this early in the morning since the street is currently empty. As he covers himself in the blankets and moves in closer to JT – but not too close – he tries to block out any other noise by listening to JT’s steady breathing, and soon enough he’s asleep again.

* * *

 

When it is time to wake up for real, Tyson finds himself an inch from JT’s face, which is only surprising because they’ve only been asleep for maybe two hours and he had left about a foot between them when he fell asleep. But JT’s alarm is beeping and he rolls to get it, and they both groggily make their way downstairs where Kerf is already dressed. The birds outside the window aren’t as loud as they were earlier, but he can still hear the occasional “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” coming from outside.

He tries his best to ignore it by turning on a playlist from his phone and banging everything he uses to make his breakfast, but it doesn’t drown out the birds. When he looks up at Kerf after making his morning smoothie he realizes he’s missed all of the accusatory looks he’s been giving him and JT for coming down for breakfast together. Tyson’s about to say something stupid that wouldn’t help address the awkwardness of what he and JT are actually doing, or not doing, right now, when he hears a voice from the spot they keep their trash can outside.

“That damn raccoon,” he says, bursting outside as JT and Kerf both raise their eyebrows at him. “Stay out of our trash!” He yells at the raccoon that is, in fact, on top of their trash can.

“But it’s good food. Lots of good food.” The raccoon says, frozen in place, their hands still clutching what looks like a chicken bone.

“I don’t care! Stay out of our trash!” He yells, but the raccoon doesn’t move, and Tyson goes back inside, annoyed.

“Hey, are you allergic to dogs?” Kerf asks neutrally when he’s back in the kitchen.

“What? No. Why?” He asks, returning to his smoothie. “We are not getting a dog.”

“No,” JT says over his coffee, “They sent out a mass text asking if anyone was allergic to dogs.”

“They know all of our allergies – I don’t know why they have to ask,” Kerf says, annoyed, typing into his phone. “And we _could_ get a dog,” he adds, quietly, as JT glares at him.

* * *

 

Once they arrive for practice, it’s obvious why there was a mass text this morning. Or at least why they were asking specifically about dogs. Walking into the locker room, there’s a St. Bernard puppy there to greet them all. About half of the guys are already there, milling around and getting ready, and a few of them are playing with the puppy – surrounded by cameras, of course.

There are a lot of excited voices all around Tyson and JT, so it’s not until Gabe and Sam move away from the dog that Tyson pinpoints the quieter, younger excited voice that is coming from the puppy. “Okay, we’ll play later!” he hears the dog say in Gabe’s retreating direction.

“Who’s this?” JT asks as he and Tyson walk closer, and the pup’s attention is suddenly directed towards them.

“Hi! Hi new friends!” The pup says excitedly, rushing towards JT and Tyson’s outstretched hands.

Lauren is there in front of the camera with them, and explains, “This is Bernie Jr., and he’s going to be joining practice today!”

“Like, on the ice?” JT asks, Tyson taking over for petting Bernie Jr.

“Yes, yes, yes play, we’re gonna play! You’re my new friend, yeah! Good pet, right behind the ears,” The dog says, very excited and very fast, but Tyson does what he says, scratching behind the ears and messing with his paws as he tries to jump all over him and JT.

“I think he’s going to be on the ice, but really that’s up to the coaching staff.” Lauren shrugs before she steps away and confers with some of the other producers and social media people.

“You’re gonna join us on the ice, huh?” Tyson says as JT resumes regular petting. “Are you gonna score goals or stop us from scoring?”

Bernie Jr. cocks his head to one side, staring at Tyson, and ends up falling over so that he’s belly-up, and his little squeals of excitement and joy have stopped. “What?”

Tyson and the pup just stare at each other for a second before JT rubs his belly, “Oh, I think he’s gonna help us score a bunch of goals, right?”

“Yeah,” Tyson says, “we’re going to have a lot of fun.”

The dog jumps up at that, wiggling with excitement. “We’re gonna have _fun_! We’re gonna _play_!”

JT gives him a final pat before both he and Tyson get up off the floor, heading to their stalls to get dressed for practice. When they’re out of sight from the cameras, Tyson pinches JT in the side. “Ow! What?”

“I could hear what Bernie Jr. was saying – and _he could understand me_.” Tyson hisses in JT’s ear.

“Dogs are smart, they usually understand humans,” he says in response, but his face is crinkled up in confusion.

Tyson doesn’t push his point, going back to his own stall to get ready for practice, but hopes JT doesn’t think he’s crazy, even if he doesn’t believe him.

At the start of practice, it turns out that Bernie Jr. is a new, permanent member of their team – their skills coach recently adopted the puppy, and after discussing it with the coaching staff and their social media team, it was decided he could come to practice. He just sits under one of the coach’s chairs while they go over video, and even though it looks like he’s sleeping, Tyson’s still anxious and doesn’t actually catch everything Bednar is saying, but he does hear, “use the system” enough times to get the gist of it. At least, he thinks, pulling on his skates and pads, he hopes it was the gist of it.

Bernie Jr. is on a leash and waits in the bench area, watching expectantly as they all get on the ice. Tyson tries not to be distracted, but he’s thinking about the birds this morning and the dog stopping and looking at him, and JT – in the jersey color of the top line for special team practices, with him wearing the jersey of the fourth line.

The puppy – Bernie Jr. - hops out onto the ice when everyone is out skating, and apparently, the plan is just to have him run wild. He ends up getting in the way of their skating, trying to steal the puck and grab onto people’s sticks, or just to jump up on people, trying to play with them. Luckily, sometimes he’s only trying to steal a puck or stick from someone not actively in the middle of a play, or he’s jumping up on the coaches, but he isn’t at all afraid to pounce out in front of Nate skating and stickhandling towards the net.

Practice is always loud, everybody’s shouts echoing off the walls, but Tyson can hear a child’s voice yelling as he goes after the puck, and every time the dog makes off with someone’s stick. It’s not actually a child’s voice, but Tyson is trying to keep his mind on hockey, and it’s distracting hearing the pup having such a good time when he’s having such a terrible practice. He’s been yelled at twice by different coaches, whiffed on at least two of his shots, and in general, he feels out of sync.

When he ends up next to JT in line, he finds it hard to chirp him, his mind drifting back to this morning when he let him slide into bed, and how nice it was to sleep next to him again, and how good he smells, and – oh crap, it’s his turn again.

Things are better – but still bad – when Bernie Jr. goes to the bench and takes a nap - “Lay down, lay down, I get to _sleep_!” Tyson hears. He still feels out of sync and his mind is too easily distracted by JT, but otherwise, he can focus on what he’s supposed to be doing. Tyson doesn’t embarrass himself in the scrimmage, but he doesn’t do anything spectacular either. When practice is over he just wants to shower and change as quickly as possible and go back home. Maybe disappear under the covers of JT’s bed and wake up to find it’s a week ago and he _can’t_ understand what animals are saying.

Instead, the cameras and social media team are waiting in the locker room to record everyone’s reaction to their first practice with Bernie Jr.; they’re getting a lot of the guys’ positive reactions, he can’t just storm out. It actually looks like he won’t have to talk about or to the dog when Lauren turns off her mike and Bernie Jr.’s actual owner moves to put his leash back on. Except Bernie Jr. evades the leash and bounds over to Tyson’s part of the locker room, brushing up against his legs.

“Human, you are sad, you need cuddles,” he says matter of factly, nuzzling his head against his leg. Tyson wants to argue with the puppy about him being sad, but having the dog nuzzle up against him does make his day a bit better.

“Thanks, Junior,” he says, reaching down to pet him on the head, and then picking him up when he puts his paws up on his legs.”I do really like puppy cuddles.” There really is something about the softness of his fur and how warm and happy he feels that makes Tyson not want to dwell on his terrible performance at practice.

“Human, do you feel better? Good cuddles?” he says, sniffing at Tyson’s face and wiggling.

“Yeah, I do feel better, Bernie, thank you.”

“Yay! Good human, good job!” He says, tail wagging as he licks Tyson’s face.

Tyson is laughing but does manage to tell him, “My name’s Tyson,” before setting him back on the ground.

The skills coach calls Bernie over, holding out the leash expectantly, and Bernie Junior wanders off as Tyson hears, “Bye Tyson-human! We’ll cuddle later!”

Tyson’s smiling when he steps into the showers and thinks that maybe this is a good delusion if he can talk to puppies.

During the next three practices, Bernie Junior is only on the ice for one of them, and the only reason he’s in the building at all for another is because they’re filming some bits of him with the actual mascot. The main guy who’s the Bernie mascot is really in favor of the team having a mini-Bernie, even if it makes his job harder when he’s around, especially on the first day they meet. Apparently, they’re supposed to act like a teacher and student of being the mascot for the Avs. It’s a home game that night, so morning skate is at Pepsi Center, and the team can see the cameras around Bernie and can hear Bernie Junior barking up in the stands.

“What’s he mad about, Tys?” JT asks, skating towards him.

Tyson makes a face at him, “I don’t _know_ , he’s just barking. I can’t hear him from here.” He’s not sure if JT actually believes him about being able to hear animals, but he’s been teasing him about it, unlike Kerf, who’s been ignoring anything he says about it.

“Oh. Well, if he comes down here, tell him to chill.” He smiles and skates over to his spot on the passing drill.

He rolls his eyes at that but wonders if Bernie Jr. would actually listen to anything he had to say. It’s not like they’ve talked, and even when he’s on the ice with them, he can’t really pick out his voice over his teammates. He does hear him when he gets close, though, so he’s the only one who hasn’t had his stick stolen by the puppy.

The barking stops after a few minutes, and practice goes on normally, with the puppy showing up in the locker room, weaving in between the various reporters and cameras there. No one is interviewing Tyson, so he just watches Bernie Jr. make the rounds in the room, noticing that he goes over to Cole first, then Wilson, and the other Tyson – interestingly, all the people who have been nursing small injuries. But then he sees him sniff Tyson a little more as he gets a pet, and he bounds over to Nate directly after, even though there are about five reporters around him.

Nate smiles and pets him before the puppy bounds off towards Tyson. “Human!”

“Hi, Junior,” Tyson says, petting the pup under the ears, head in his hands, “You can call me Tyson.”

“Tyson,” he says, putting his paws up on him, “My name is Bernie.”

“I know, but you’re Bernie _Junior_ , there’s another Bernie and it gets confusing.” He’s sniffing around, turning his head back and forth, but Tyson tries, “Hey, why were you barking at Bernie earlier?”

Bernie Junior shakes his head and is back on all four paws in front of him. “That wasn’t a dog! It was a human covering his face!”

All of the play has gone out of him, and he looks so serious Tyson has to try not to laugh. “Yeah, I know. Everybody knows that – we just pretend it’s a real dog sometimes. It’s fun. Kids like it.”

He goes backward a few steps, looking at Tyson, but before Bernie Jr. can say anything else, he’s called by the skills coach and bounds away. Looking up, Tyson sees social media Emily tracking him closely, so he decides to make a beeline for the showers.

When they’re in the car heading home, Tyson tells JT that Bernie Junior was barking at Bernie, “because he’s a human in a costume.”

JT laughs, “That sucks. Did you tell him to chill the fuck out?”

“Sort of,” he shrugs, “I don’t really think he listens to me.”

“Yeah, well I hope they get some good footage anyway,” JT says, still chuckling. They don’t talk about practice the rest of the ride home, quiet except for the music playing between them.

The house is louder than usual – not because Kerf or JT are doing anything unusually loud – Kerf’s on the phone with his girlfriend as he messes around in the kitchen, and JT’s watching something on his computer, but Tyson can easily hear a dozen extra voices. There are squirrels arguing with each other in one of the trees in the backyard, there are bunnies trying to be quiet hopping around, but who are much louder through the crunching of the leaves they’re eating, talking to each other. A small fox is eyeing the bunnies, but so far he hasn’t caught one, because he keeps yelling as he’s about to attack, and Tyson can hear the screeching even if the bunnies don’t.

In his basement bedroom he can get away from the outside screaming, but after he’s been concentrating on his playbook for about an hour, he starts to hear voices from the walls, and he can’t tell if they’re moles or mice or snakes, but there’s something burrowing in the ground right next to him, and it’s almost worse than the screeching.

Digging out his noise-canceling headphones, he puts them on and assembles the suit he was planning on wearing tonight. He walks back upstairs and stops in every room to take them off and listen. By the time he reaches upstairs where JT’s room is, he knows how loud each room is in the house. Compared to the rest of the house, his room is pretty quiet, but not knowing what’s talking is too weird for him, but the upstairs bedroom hallway is remarkably quiet. Most of the other sounds from outside echo up to him, but sound much farther away.

He doesn’t put his headphones back on as he opens up JT’s door, because he already knows there’ll be almost a hush when he goes inside. There is, and Tyson can feel the tension drain out of his shoulders as he walks inside, shutting the door, even though JT doesn’t look up from his book.

“There’s a really dumb fox outside that would probably catch more rabbits if it quit screaming,” he says without preamble.

“And what about up here?” JT asks, a small smile on his lips.

Tyson takes a second to listen, and he can only just hear the commotion in the backyard, and then what he’s pretty sure is an owl in the tree by the road. “There’s an owl in that tree snoring.” He holds out the suit and shirt and tie for JT’s inspection. “But at least he’s doing it quietly.”

JT’s smirking as he stands up to better inspect the clothes, holding each one up to Tyson briefly before hanging it on his closet door. “You’re good. And I don’t think we’ll match today, either.”

“Good,” Tyson replies smiling. “Hey, do you have your playbook up here? I left my downstairs and - “

“No,” JT cuts him off.

“Okay, do you know, for five-on-five - “

“ _No_ ,” JT repeats, taking a step toward him. “You do not need to look at the playbook right now. You probably know it better than I do.”

“But - “

“Tys,” JT says, taking hold of Tyson’s arms. “Relax. Stop thinking about it.”

It’s probably because JT’s face is only a few inches away from Tyson’s, but he does relax, and he stops thinking about it. He leans into JT, and he might have leaned into him too, because now they’re kissing and JT’s got a hand in Tyson’s hair, and Tyson’s got a hand on JT’s butt. They end up pressed against the door, JT’s knee in-between Tyson’s legs, hands under shirts. It doesn’t take long before Tyson’s pushed them back towards JT’s bed, their shirts on the ground, undoing belts and reaching into each other’s pants.

It feels like they haven’t done this in a million years, so most of it is rushed and sloppy, but they do manage to get all of their clothes off, so it’s definitely better than the first time they ever had sex. Cuddling, with Tyson’s face between JT’s neck and shoulder, he says, “Please tell me it’s nap time because I am not moving.”

JT moves slightly, grabbing his phone from where it landed, and says, “Yeah, it is.” He puts his arms back around Tyson and squeezes gently. “So you’re gonna sleep in my room? Is it still the quietest in the house?”

“I dunno,” Tyson says, yawning and reaching for the blankets, pulling them up. “You won’t stop talking.”

JT laughs, making them both bounce, which makes Tyson laugh too, and they both end up stretching out and adjusting the blankets and cell phones before lying down again, their arms around each other.

When the alarm on JT’s phone goes off, Tyson feels warm, comfortable, and refreshed. He doesn’t want to get up, but JT moves to turn off the alarm, not letting go of Tyson, but jostling him gently. Tyson watches him, and when he’s close enough again, Tyson kisses him softly, and JT kisses him back. They get up smiling, and they get ready and head out the door to the arena in a good mood. Even through Tyson’s patented game-day playlist, he’s still smiling a lot in addition to getting into the mindset for the game.

JT drives, with Tyson manning the radio and getting in one more kiss before they head out. The security dog at the arena mumbles their standard “hello” to Tyson, JT, and Nemo right in front of them, and Nate and the other Tyson behind them. Bernie Jr. doesn’t seem to be around as Tyson moves steadily through his pregame routine, suiting up and feeling good. The lines are different again, but he’s not sure how well they’ll work - he doesn’t feel like he’s been much help on any line or unit he’s been on lately.

He feels calmer on the ice during warm-ups, and he and JT do more passing and shooting than they have in a while, and it feels good. Although Tyson still doesn’t really feel like he’s at the top of his game when they head back out after Bednar goes over the game plan. Once they’re on the ice, Tyson manages to get into a rhythm, and they’re spending a lot of time in the offensive zone.

The whole crowd lets out a frustrated groan after JT hits the post, and it’s good to know the crowd’s on your side, at least. Luckily they get a power play not too long after, and it works – other Tyson from Nate, and maybe a deflection from Gabe in front to seal the first goal of the game.

The rest of the period and the next go by in a haze, but no one gets yelled at back in the locker room. It’s a normal reset and back to business since they’re only up by one goal. A few of the coaches do say something as they’re putting gear back on to go out, but Tyson doesn’t catch it, because when he looks over, JT is looking at him through his eyelashes as he does up his skates. He feels his stomach flip flop and his insides expand as JT stands, smiling.

Walking back out, they hear the voice of Roach announcing their return to the ice, and Tyson tries to shift his brain back into game mode, but he hears, “Go humans! Happy yell!” and some barking, and when he looks up at the jumbotron he sees Nicole holding out her microphone to Bernie Jr., Bernie the mascot standing behind them. He laughs, skating around a bit before he goes to sit by JT on the bench, smiling.

“Go humans!” He says as they shuffle along the bench, and JT looks up where the screen is showing Bernie Jr. and Bernie Sr. next to Nicole, hyping up the crowd.

JT smiles too and shoves Tyson a little, “Go, human!” he says into his face, the lights coming up.

Tyson’s still smiling as the puck drops, and he thinks ‘go human’ to himself as he hops over the boards onto the ice. They were set up well, and they manage to run through a few plays and a few saves in the offensive zone when Tyson manages to get his stick on the puck and throws it over to JT – and he scores. He’s last to the group hug around JT, but he jumps in, yelling in everyone’s faces, and pats his helmet as he skates off.

The rest of the game was pretty even, but after JT’s goal, all four lines are rolling, and even when they do end up in their own zone, Grubi stays solid. There’s another goal, this time scored by Soda, and Tyson almost doesn’t want to look and see how much time is left, because it feels like all the bounces are going their way and he wants to capitalize. When he’s out on the ice, the defensemen want to score as much as he and JT do, and they have a lot of chances, but nothing connects until Tyson gets a pass from JT and manages to beat the goalie.

When JT smashes into him for the goal hug, he’s yelling, “Go human!” and Tyson is laughing and smiling into his beaming face. His other linemates come in for fist-bumps and he’s glad to turn away from JT right then, otherwise, he’d be kissing him here on the ice. The rest of the game is fun to watch and even more fun to play in, although Tyson doesn’t spend a lot of time on the ice in the remaining three minutes of the game.

Getting back to the locker room is a relief because no one is paying attention to him, so he can grin at JT with abandon, and raise his eyebrows and lick his lips when he looks back so that he sticks his tongue out at him. He doesn’t let himself do anything else, though, because people step up to JT then to interview him, and the room itself has started to settle down into its normal level of chaos, and he remembers he shouldn’t make sex eyes at JT until he gets home.

Of course, when they do get home, JT manhandles Tyson into his bedroom with kisses before he has any chance to send sex eyes his way.

“Hey, bud!” Tyson greets Bernie Jr. at practice when he sees him walk into the locker room.

Bernie, Jr. doesn’t immediately come over to Tyson, though, waiting patiently as his leash is undone and then wandering around the room, sniffing his way around the stalls. Tyson isn’t surprised when he stops at Nate’s stall, allowing Nate to give him a good pat on the head, or that he similarly stops at the other Tyson for another pet, but he is surprised when he bounces back to Nate, jumping up, paws in his lap. He laughs as Bernie sniffs earnestly at Nate, who’s also laughing, and smiles as Bernie Jr. gets affectionately shoved off by Nate, trying to actually get ready for practice.

When he makes his way over to Tyson’s stall, his tail is wagging, and he happily says, “Hi Tyson!”

“Hey, Junior, good to see you,” Tyson says, petting him on the head.

Junior bounces around like he wants to play. “Tyson! They smell like each other’s butts! Again! They _do_!” Somewhere in his bouncing he turned his head and nodded at people, but Tyson can’t really distinguish who he meant.

“Okay, that’s cool,” Tyson can’t remember what he wanted to tell Junior now, but there was-

“Hey!” Junior puts his paws in Tyson’s lap again. “You smell like someone’s butt too!”

“What?” But before Tyson can ask him for more information, Junior’s already hopped down and is meandering around the rest of the stalls – sniffing – the other guys in the room. It doesn’t take long for him to get over to JT, but when he does he perks up again and jumps so he’s propped up on JT’s leg.

“He smells like your butt!” He calls back triumphantly to Tyson.

“Junior!” Tyson almost yells, but he ignores him.

“Hey, bud,” JT says, giving him a pet. “Joining us for practice, huh?” He looks over to Tyson, and seeing his face, raises his eyebrows in question. But Tyson can feel his eyes widen before he shakes his head and turns back to his gear. “See ya out there,” he hears JT say and knows Bernie Jr. has wandered off to different teammates.

He doesn’t look up again as he finishes putting his gear on, knowing his whole face must be blushing, but no one says or notices anything as he makes his way onto the ice. Working with the puck and skating, Tyson relaxes into his game, remembering that _no one else can hear Bernie_. Not that it probably matters – Junior’s walking around a locker room – the whole place probably smells like ass. Big Z starts chirping him, skating around him, blocking him from skating in any direction, and then Tyson isn’t thinking about dogs’ sense of smell, he’s working on how to get past annoying d-men.

Practice ends up being pretty standard for a day between games, except for when Bernie Jr. pounces on the ice during the scrimmage. Unfortunately for Tyson, Junior has stopped talking when he’s sneaking around the ice, so he doesn’t have any more warning than anyone else does, but he still does pretty well. It helps too that Bernie Jr. is growing rapidly, so he’s already noticeably bigger than the first time he participated in practice. And Tyson knows that St. Bernard’s don’t actually get as large as the team’s _main_ Bernie, but he does remember that fully grown St. Bernard’s can be _massive_. In the back of his mind, Tyson thinks about how fun a practice with a fully grown Bernie Jr. would be and hopes he’ll be here to experience it.

On the way back into the room JT says so only Tyson can hear, “Are you gonna yell at Bernie again?”

“No, no – I - “ he feels sheepish now, after a full practice where nothing went wrong. “I’ll explain later. Junior and me are cool.”

He tries to make sure of that, too. When he finally comes in the room, Tyson attempts to flag him down waving his arms and calling his name, but he’s ignored. The dog wanders around a little bit before stopping in front of Gabe to nose into his hands, laying his head on his thigh. After Gabe gets in some really good head pets, Bernie Jr. stops and lets EJ and then Nieto pet him, weaving in and out of people’s legs until he pops up in front of Tyson.

“Hey, bud,” Tyson says, swooping down to Bernie Jr.’s level. “Good practice today.”

“Practice is fun! I wanna do it again!” He says, allowing Tyson to pet him.

“Not today, but hopefully you’re at next practice,” Tyson answers easily, wondering how to bring up butt-smells without weirding out the people who haven’t gone off to the showers yet.

He doesn’t get a chance to bring it up, though, because as Tyson’s scratching Junior under the ears, his eyes closed, the coach holding his leash calls him over, and he skips off with barely a “Bye!” over his shoulder. Tyson shakes his head in disbelief and heads off to shower and change.

After practice, it takes a while until Tyson and JT are alone together so Tyson can explain what Bernie the dog said. They’ve got one game left in their homestead before a pretty long road trip, but instead of telling them to go home and plan ahead for the trip or rest up for the next game, Gabe and Tyson have talked them and a few other guys into going to a nearby arcade. It turns out they mostly needed a few more bodies for a game of laser tag that’s been a source of trash talk for several seasons in a row.

Tyson ends up on other Tyson’s team with Wilson, Sam, and EJ. JT’s on Gabe’s team, “best friends aren’t allowed on the same team – it’s cheating,” Tyson and Gabe both tell them at different points, except where Tyson’s annoyed, Gabe’s stern. Which is why Gabe’s team has Nate, JT, Kerf, and Nieto. Tyson feels like pointing out that JT and Kerf are also best friends, but he sees Colin and the other Tyson whispering conspiratorially and decides not to say anything.

Gabe’s team ends up winning, but Tyson does manage to get JT a few times and everyone else on their team except Gabe at least once – he just also manages to get shot by Nate five times and Gabe four times. Even though they lose, it’s fun, and Tyson’s glad they did it. Once they get home, Kerf brags, cooking dinner for them all, and Tyson doesn’t stop him because his curry cauliflower is that good.

When JT does corner Tyson in the living room, it’s not to question him, but to pin him down on the couch, teasing him for kisses. Tyson kisses him back, pushing up into him, but then he remembers what happened with Bernie earlier. “Hey,” he says between kisses, “I have to tell you – what – Bernie said.”

JT groans, “Right now?”

“Before I forget,” Tyson says, resting his hands on JT’s lower back under his shirt.

After a long second looking at him, JT lets out a long, suffering sigh and props himself up on Tyson’s chest. “Okay, what did he say?”

“That we smelled like each other’s butts.”

“What?”

“Yeah, he was sniffing around the room and told me that I smelled like someone else’s butt, and then he went and sniffed over by you and shouted that you smelled like my butt too.” Tyson laughs as he says it, feeling ridiculous for reacting so quickly earlier.

JT’s face is scrunched up, and for a second Tyson thinks that maybe he doesn’t really believe him, he’s just pretending to be nice or to get in his pants, and - “That doesn’t make sense, why would you smell like my butt and I smell like yours? I mean...”

Tyson leans up to kiss him, saving him from whatever confusion he’s tumbling into. “I don’t know, J, he’s a dog, he probably doesn’t really know what he’s smelling.”

“Dogs have a really good sense of smell, though – if he said he smelled our butts he probably smelled our butts.”

“Maybe,” Tyson says, tracing his hand up and down JT’s back. “But I’m the only one who heard him yell ‘he smells like your butt’ across the locker room, so it doesn’t matter.” He starts to relax back onto Tyson again, although his expression is still far off.

“The whole locker room probably smells like ass, though...”

“That’s what I thought!”

JT has his hands back where they were, pinning down Tyson while undressing him, and asks, his voice low and seductive, “But why would we _both_ smell like each other’s butts?”

He chuckles at that, shifting to fit closer to JT, nonchalantly answering, “I dunno … probably the same reason other people smelled like each other’s butts.”

“Other people?” JT pops up again, brow furrowed.

Confused, Tyson says, “Yeah, Bernie said two other guys smelled like each other butts before he came sniffing me and you.”

“Oh. Who?”

“I dunno. It’s hard to ask him questions when he’s running everywhere, and if he pointed them out I couldn’t tell.”

“Okay, but I wanna know who else smells like someone else’s butt.”

Tyson sighs. “I’ll try and ask him, but I’m trying to think about your butt right now.”

JT grins, “You think I have a nice butt?”

Grabbing onto it with both hands, Tyson says, “I mean, it’s alright.”

They’re kissing again when there’s a bang on the kitchen counter. “If you’re just making out I don’t care, but if you’re gonna fuck, _please_ get a room,” Kerf’s voice calls out. “We play video games on that couch.”

As he rolls off of Tyson, JT responds, “Sorry, Kerf.”

Tyson grabs a couch pillow and put it over his face even as JT’s offering a hand to help him up. “I’m not sorry, Kerf.”

“I don’t want to know if you’re naked; stay there until I leave. I’m gonna pretend you guys are just making out, okay?”

“I’m fully clothed!” Tyson calls, annoyed but not moving.

Chuckling, JT says quietly, “Not for long.”

Removing the pillow and sitting up, Tyson can see JT’s shit-eating grin, and his face must be red because his face is a different shade now. He looks over to the kitchen to see Kerf grabbing some fruit and his keys off of the counter, saying, “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that and go do some errands. Just don’t have sex on the couch.”

“Bye,” Tyson says as JT waves with the hand not now covering his mouth. As the door closes behind Kerf, JT starts laughing and plops back down on the couch on top of Tyson. He presses his face into JT’s shoulder, “Did we ever actually tell him?”

JT leans back into him so they’re face to face. “I think we were pretty obvious,” he says, kissing him.

It’s an awkward angle, so Tyson doesn’t feel too bad about pulling away to say, “Shouldn’t I be naked by now?”

JT presses a kiss onto Tyson’s lips in response before pulling him up off of the couch and dragging him to his bedroom.

They play at least ten games before Bernie, Jr. shows up at a team practice again, and even then it’s only an optional skate. Junior doesn’t show up until halfway through skate, and everyone is already in a good enough mood that his attempts at stealing the puck and people’s sticks is funny instead of frustrating. A group actually ends up forming around Junior so they can play a game of keep-away with the puck by passing it around him. Once Nate manages to pass it _underneath_ Junior, he starts to say that they’re being mean to the dog by not letting him play with the puck.

Tyson can actually hear Bernie in front of them, and he knows that he is enjoying every second of almost getting the puck, when he can trap the puck, and that he likes when the passes connect and they celebrate the most. But he doesn’t say anything, because the other Tyson mentions how they should _skate_ and pass, and the group splits up so some of them are still passing and some are going over to the other net to shoot. Tyson’s about ready to go over and shoot when he sees JT is playing with Bernie, a puck between them.

“Trying to become Bernie’s favorite player?” he says, skating back over to them.

“No,” JT says, still battling with Bernie Jr.’s increasingly large paws. “No one is cooler to dogs than Nate – I’m surprised he hasn’t told you that.”

“He didn’t tell me that because _I’m_ his favorite!”

“Sure you are,” JT snarks, losing the puck to the dog. “You should ask him – see who his favorite is.”

Tyson glares at JT a second, trying to pretend he’s juggling an extra puck that was around the keep away circle. “Junior,” he stage whispers to the dog, who immediately jerks his head up.

“Hey Tyson! Isn’t this a fun practice? This is _so fun_.”

“It is, hey – who’s your favorite player?” Bernie, Jr. stares blankly at him for a few seconds, and Tyson adds, “Based on who’s here, who do you like the most?”

Junior jumps up and snatches Tyson’s stick out of his hands, running away from him. He catches up with him really quickly, JT following close behind him. He grabs his stick back from Junior, and is about to change the subject when he happily says, “You’re so fun! Everyone is so fun to play with!” His tail is wagging rapidly, but his whole body doesn’t wiggle while it does anymore, and Tyson suddenly feels old.

“Thanks. Um,” he looks over at JT, smirking next to him. “Okay – who’s your favorite person to pet you?”

“What?” JT interjects, “That’s also Nate – just ask him about the butt smells already.”

Bernie Jr. isn’t listening to JT, though, even as Tyson feels like an idiot for forgetting. “He gives the best pets!” he says, looking over at the group of guys who are passing between each other.

“ _Which_ of those guys?” Tyson asks, trying to decide how to distinguish them without their names, trying to see the group from Bernie’s angle on the ice.

“The one who always smells like someone else’s butt!”

Tyson, crouched down, almost falls over. “What? Who? Wait -”

JT looks down at him, eyebrows raised. “If he doesn’t know their name, he can go steal their stick – he’s pretty good at that.”

“Yes,” Tyson turns to Bernie, whose face is right next to his now, breathing into his visor and fogging it up. “Bernie – Junior - “ he grabs him and moves him away from his face, “The person who gives the best pets and smells like someone else’s butt – can you go grab their stick? Oh! And then take it to the person who smells like their butt?”

“You want me to steal more sticks?” Junior sounds excited.

“Yeah, but just the one!”

“Okay!” He darts off as Tyson gains his feet, and they watch him weave through the group and snatch the stick of one of the guys who was standing by, watching, and run to the other side of the rink.

“I don’t see who – oh my god,” JT says, smiling widely as he watches Nate chase after Bernie Junior the short distance to where the other Tyson is standing.

Tyson starts laughing too as the dog drops Nate’s stick right as he’s about to grab it from him, jumping up on the other Tyson, his paws reaching his waist. A few of their teammates look over at them, so they strategically go over to the bench and drink some water before Tyson says, “So I guess it’s a best friend thing?”

JT shrugs, “I guess.” He takes another drink, and before Tyson skates off to do more actual work, he adds, “I wonder if they’re boyfriends, too.”

There’s a hammering in Tyson’s chest as he looks at JT, his brain clinging to the word “boyfriends,” but even as his chest’s exploding, JT suddenly looks nervous.

“I mean – they might just be-”

“Boyfriends,” Tyson finishes for him. “They’re probably boyfriends.”

Ducking his head and grinning, JT replies, “Cool. Good for them.”

“Cool,” Tyson says, skating off with a grin.

He doesn’t get to kiss JT as his official boyfriend until hours later when they shut themselves in JT’s room before dinner, but it feels worth the wait.

And when he wakes up in JT’s bed the next morning, Tyson can hear the birds chirping loudly, but can’t understand a single one of them.

**Author's Note:**

> LG was barely in this fic but she will forever be my favorite no matter where she ~actually~ works.
> 
> The Avs should 100% have a team dog, and it should absolutely be a St. Bernard, and they should name them Bernie Jr. I stand behind this.
> 
> I unfortunately didn't take proper advantage of both Tyson and Bernie being "Junior" OR the fact they're both colorblind, for which I sincerely apologize.  
>  
> 
> ~~Also if you're wondering how the talking to animals magic worked in this fic, I wonder that too! It started when the fic started and ended when the fic needed to end, so ~shrug.~~~


End file.
